Bonum Certa Men Certa

Team UPC and CIPA Are Lobbying, Publishing Puff Pieces, and Rewriting the Law for Unitary Patent (UPC) Behind Closed Doors

CIPA on UPC
View larger version



Summary: A collection of the latest news and views on the UPC, which is being lied about by those who stand to benefit from it and is probably going nowhere because Brexit means that the UK stays out, in which case it must be reset and pertinent ratifications done all over again

THE EPO's management is eager if not desperate to bring legal chaos to Europe (in the form of UPC), even if the public and businesses object to it.



So why did the UPC have some momentum? Well, Team UPC was pushing for it in private events where it habitually lied (for instance claiming that UPC was "for SMEs" -- the very opposite of what's true). Christopher Weber, for example, part of the litigation 'industry', ignored what didn't suit his position and wrote: "Very little opposition to the UPC in the U.K.?"

“Despite political will & legal creativity, Brexit is end of UK in UPC.”
      --KlunkerIP, Munich law firm
No, not really. There is a lot of opposition among people who know what is going on. There is in fact this new petition titled "Reject the ratification of the Unitary Patent treaty by the UK and Scotland". Someone from FFII started it and the summary states: "The Unitary Patent contain articles which refers to the supremacy of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), while politicians have promised to respect the democratic Brexit vote of UK citizens to leave the EU; The UPC court will provide case law in favor of software patents."

KlunkerIP, a "Munich IP law firm reflecting on professional issues" (based on its Twitter profile), has meanwhile said: "Despite political will & legal creativity, Brexit is end of UK in UPC. #CJEU held only #EU states can make #UPC. #UK like #CH or #NO (fm)"

The supposed "political will" is due to mischief and lobbying from Team UPC, CIPA, etc. Someone from the patent microcosm has just selectively quoted in a tweet something from a new article: "Great quote in The Times UK IP supplement Raconteur “There may be a compromise and we’ll be allowed into the UPC th..."

“I thought it was a quite good piece as it states quite clearly that the UPC is incompatible with the CJEU not having jurisdiction in the UK after Brexit.”
      --Anonymous
We've decided to chase the source and see what's behind it, knowing that Team UPC has turned lying into somewhat of an art form. We have produced a screenshot of this article (requires Flash and bloat to view otherwise) and it looks like News Corporation doing another puff piece for a stakeholder. "Not sure if you have seen this one," one reader told us, but "look at page 3..."

Not News Corporation's page 3 of The Sun...

Having just read it quickly, it looks familiar. It repeats a lot of myths. I asked the reader if there was "anything in particular" in that article that's worth repeating, for it's "full of lies" and it was published in association with CIPA, i.e. it's lobbying. "I thought it was a quite good piece," the reader told me, "as it states quite clearly that the UPC is incompatible with the CJEU not having jurisdiction in the UK after Brexit."

"Team UPC does not want the public to understand what's going on, for fear it might -- gasp! -- get involved."Why didn't Team UPC cite these passages then? Not convenient enough? Where is the coverage from IP Kat? Something about these serious issues? Well, Bristows' virtual takeover of IP Kat seemed further cemented yesterday. Bristows, based on this nonsensical post, now speaks for "the entire IPKat team!" (direct quote)

In this post, Bristows' lobbyist also sucks up to Microsoft's patent extortionist once again. Serial litigators who shake down companies for 'protection' money...

So anyway, why is it so hard to obtain accurate information about the UPC? Well, that's a design flaw. Team UPC does not want the public to understand what's going on, for fear it might -- gasp! -- get involved.

"It's 'laundering' of law or abject hijack of law (stealing democracy) by those who want more litigation because they would profit from it at everyone's expense."Ever heard how lobbyists are writing laws on behalf of corporations? Watch what Team UPC is trying to do right now, based on this tweet and corresponding blog post from Louise Amar (part of Team UPC).

"The Preparatory Committee published the new draft rules of procedure," it says, not quite noting who's in this committee (it's an embarrassment if not institutional corruption). It's an "undemocratic procedure," Benjamin Henrion (FFII) told them. They have detailed a list of changes to procedures, written by so-called 'experts' who are actually the wolves pretending to guard sheep. That in its own right should disqualify the UPC. It's 'laundering' of law or abject hijack of law (stealing democracy) by those who want more litigation because they would profit from it at everyone's expense. Letting these people write these laws is like allowing oil companies to compose environmental regulations which govern them.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Last Week's EPO Strike Was the Biggest (Highest Participation Rate), Hours Ago General Assembly Discussed Next (Growing) Intensity of Strikes
Well done and well attended
 
Links 24/03/2026: "Airports on ICE" and "Have You Paid Your “Intuit Tax”?"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/03/2026: Slop Interview and Why Slop Makes Lousy Code
Links for the day
Richard Stallman to Give Public Talk This Thursday at the University of Bologna (Italy)
Hardly the first time he speaks in Bologna
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 23, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, March 23, 2026
Gemini Links 23/03/2026: "Mandatory" Bad Things and Dangers of Perfection Aspirations
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 20 Out of 200: All Roads Lead to Rome and to GAFAM Funding
Now about 10% into this series
Mass Layoffs at HashiCorp, IBM Hid Them
The media did not mention those layoffs
Microsoft Downgraded on Concerns (Lack of Growth) Amid Silent Layoffs in 2026
The press isn't functioning anymore
Links 23/03/2026: Gulf Water at Risk, Heatwave in Malaysia
Links for the day
Slop Means False, New Article by Cybershow
"We are living in a world that is rapidly divesting from reality."
Debianism election 2026 community poll created, everybody can vote
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 23/03/2026: "Shocking Peter Thiel Antichrist Lectures", Robert Mueller Remembered
Links for the day
The Scandal Bigger Than IBM/Red Hat Layoffs is the de Facto "Media Blackout" About Those Layoffs
So we have a media crisis, aside from the economic crises
Gemini Links 23/03/2026: Geminispace/Elpher Enhancement and the Cerberus Cinco
Links for the day
Fear is Not a Legitimate Factor
Smart people know that trying to prevent moral people from doing the "Right Thing" will backfire
Fuel Autonomy and What It Teaches Us About Software Autonomy (or Software Freedom)
Need we wait until a "software Pearl Harbor" or protect ourselves proactively by weaning ourselves off of GAFAMware?
Scheduled Maintenance This Coming Wednesday
Other than that, all is the same and we carry on as usual
Most Press Articles About IBM Are LLM Slop, Sometimes With Slop Images
IBM basically laid off almost 1,000 people last week [...] At the moment about 75% of the 'articles' we see about IBM (in recent days) are some kind of slop
Links 23/03/2026: Security Breaches, Energy Shortages, Another SRA Scandal, and Patents on Nature
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 22, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 22, 2026
Streisand Effect and Justice
This weekend this site has served over 8 million Web requests
Gemini Links 22/03/2026: "Woman of Tomorrow" and "First Steps in Geminispace"
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 19 Out of 200: They Were Ill-prepared for Tough Questions in Cross-Examination
Very ill-prepared for the deteriorating situation caused by their clients' past behaviour towards many people, including high-profile figures who offered to testify
The Media Sold Out to Slop Bros
If you wish for the hype to stop, then stop participating in it
EPO Strike a Week From Now, After That Strikes Can Become Permanent
A week from tomorrow there will be another strike
The Only Non-IBM Staff in Fedora Council/Leadership Attacks Booting Freedom (Just Like the Master Wants)
Last week IBM laid off almost 1,000 people in Confluent and the media didn't write anything about it, so don't expect anyone in what's left of the media to comment on Fedora's demise and silent layoffs at Red Hat
Just Like a Founder of XBox Said, Microsoft XBox is Collapsing, Management Continue to Jump Ship
Nowadays Microsoft tries to promote this idea that Windows is XBox and XBox is Windows
Links 22/03/2026: Slop Triggers Emergency at Meta, Energy Prices Rise Sharply
Links for the day
Links 22/03/2026: Microsoft 'Open' 'AI' in Legal Trouble (Plagiarism, Distortion, Misrepresentation); Facebook/Meta Kills Off "Horizon Worlds"
Links for the day
Racism Dressed Up as "Choice"
Racism is rampant at IBM
Probably an All-Time Record
Our investment in our own SSG is paying off
Your Site Should Implement Its Own Search (Before It's Too Late)
GAFAM was never trustworthy
Gemini Links 22/03/2026: LLM Slop Attacks USENET, Announcing Pig (New Game in Gemini Protocol)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 21, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, March 21, 2026